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How Capitalism Was Built: The Transformation of Central and Eastern Europe, Russia, and Central Asia
How Capitalism Was Built tells the story of how the former communist countries in East and Central Europe, Russia, and Central Asia became market economies from 1989 to 2006. It discusses preconditions, political breakthroughs, and alternative reform programs. Three major chapters deal with the deregulation of prices and trade, price stabilization, and privatization. Early radical reform made output decline the least. Social developments have been perplexing but mixed. The building of democracy and the establishment of the rule of law have been far less successful. International assistance has been limited but helpful. This region has now become highly dynamic, but corruption remains problematic.
372 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2007
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
October 11, 2016
The Goodreads description of this book suggests it is a "story." This book is no story. It is densely packed with statistics and examples, and each sentence is written with hardly room to breathe before the next. So while this book is informative if you want the nitty-gritty about this topic, it's not a book that most people would read for the sake of reading it. It's meant to be referenced or for readers to find specific information about the country or the event they're interested in.
November 12, 2011
this edition was published in 2007, so perhaps later editions will have tackled some of the points i'll make here.
i started the book with enthusiasm - Aslund is one of the greats in this field, and his text is refreshingly light on self-absorption.
however, stodgy it still can be, and i put it down about halfway through... over two years passed before i picked it up again.
overall, the book gives very valuable insights on the transition experience across the region, and derives references from a vast array of sources. the man knows his stuff and has done his work. but there are several drawbacks, which lead me dithering between giving this a 3 or a 4.
the structure is top-down, and it feels as if it's pitched as a text book (the order of chapters might be improved, and certainly there is much repetition and redundancy of text, which impair readability - but perhaps these are designed to provide manageable chunks for students, and to highlight key points).
structure aside, the title also is a little misleading. the practical illustrations of the book's points draw heavily on the areas of the author's own expertise, principally Russia. Other countries are brought in only when they illustrate a certain point. In other words, don't expect a fully-populated matrix, country-by-country, of each point or issue. Fair enough, in a book this size, and I wouldn't have wanted that anyway, but it is a little striking how extremely rarely East Germany or Yugoslavia, for example, are featured. "Central and Eastern Europe" could do with better representation, given the title.
Finally, although he does add some personal anecdotes, I'd have enjoyed the book more if Aslund had added a few more insights from his own experience (or those of others). The subject matter is as pertinent today as ever, and I feel a rewrite would help lift the valuable analytical framework out of a rather stodgy text.
Incidentally, one difficulty I had reading the book initially was that so much had changed in the few months since publication and my reading it. (The text was perhaps a year old.) Clearly, much more water has rolled under the bridge since then, and I've come to terms with the instantly historical nature of the text. The extra years' passing don't make the book any less valid or readable.
i started the book with enthusiasm - Aslund is one of the greats in this field, and his text is refreshingly light on self-absorption.
however, stodgy it still can be, and i put it down about halfway through... over two years passed before i picked it up again.
overall, the book gives very valuable insights on the transition experience across the region, and derives references from a vast array of sources. the man knows his stuff and has done his work. but there are several drawbacks, which lead me dithering between giving this a 3 or a 4.
the structure is top-down, and it feels as if it's pitched as a text book (the order of chapters might be improved, and certainly there is much repetition and redundancy of text, which impair readability - but perhaps these are designed to provide manageable chunks for students, and to highlight key points).
structure aside, the title also is a little misleading. the practical illustrations of the book's points draw heavily on the areas of the author's own expertise, principally Russia. Other countries are brought in only when they illustrate a certain point. In other words, don't expect a fully-populated matrix, country-by-country, of each point or issue. Fair enough, in a book this size, and I wouldn't have wanted that anyway, but it is a little striking how extremely rarely East Germany or Yugoslavia, for example, are featured. "Central and Eastern Europe" could do with better representation, given the title.
Finally, although he does add some personal anecdotes, I'd have enjoyed the book more if Aslund had added a few more insights from his own experience (or those of others). The subject matter is as pertinent today as ever, and I feel a rewrite would help lift the valuable analytical framework out of a rather stodgy text.
Incidentally, one difficulty I had reading the book initially was that so much had changed in the few months since publication and my reading it. (The text was perhaps a year old.) Clearly, much more water has rolled under the bridge since then, and I've come to terms with the instantly historical nature of the text. The extra years' passing don't make the book any less valid or readable.
December 31, 2011
Informative and useful. Aslund have strong beliefs and sticks with them. The book was certainly complemented by in-class discussions with Aslund, but in general I felt the book tried to take a lot of information and organize it in a manner that worked most of the time but not always. I most enjoyed the treatment of crime, corruption, and oligarchs, but I hear this might be taken out of the next edition. There are moments of useful insight, such as reasons to question Soviet statistics, that make the book worth picking up if one is interested.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews